Followers

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Banded Demoiselles.

With the weather being particularly bad over the last couple of days it has been a case of just getting out there to see if anything is about. Yesterday, trying to avoid a case of cabin fever I headed over to the Downs around Eastbourne to see if the Frog Orchids had started to show. In fact 9 of these little orchids were just about in flower. There didn't appear to be any sign of the hybrid from last year yet. Time will tell if it will reappear later.

The weather was slightly better today, in as much as it wasn't torrential rain. It was just overcast with a bit of drizzle here and there. I had nothing to lose so I went back to the River Cuckmere looking for damselflies and dragonflies. No dragons at all were seen but eventually a few Banded Demoiselles were found, both male and female, and as it was quite cool they were not as flighty as usual.

About Me

I have been interested in most aspects of British wildlife since I was around 6 years old when I would watch animals and birds whilst I was fishing. At the age of 13 I was given my first serious camera by my parents, a Zenith B, and with this I would record what I saw. I still remember my first macro photo, an ichneumon wasp at Offham. In fact I still have the picture. Today, 47 years later, I still enjoy both observing and photographing nature, particularly insects with butterflies being my main targets but also dragonflies and moths. In the winter I do a bit more birding with my son Matt. I currently use a Nikon D810 with a Sigma 105mm macro lens. I have also recently purchased a D800 2nd hand which I am hoping will be good for bird photography which I use a 300mm f2.8 with tele converters. I also have a 300mm f4 which is much lighter and easy to carry around. I have found this lens pretty good for some larger butterflies, orchids and dragonflies.